Author: World War II Pretty Lady (Without permission, it is forbidden to copy the full text and carry it privately!) ）
During the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union, while the fierce war caused huge losses to the Soviet Union, it also tempered many famous Soviet commanders! In addition to the Zhukov and Rokossovsky we know, there are actually many more "low-key" famous Soviet generals, and it is their concerted efforts and "common hatred" that finally knocked the Nazi Empire to "ashes"!
Today, let's take a look at this one: Semmel Konstantinovich Timoshenko.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="67" > Timoshenko's name makes people think he is a "Mongol", joined the Red Army after the "October Revolution" and rose higher and higher ever since. </h1>
Timoshenko was born in 1895 in a small town in Odessa, Ukraine, and he may feel "recognizable" to his countrymen: mainly because his name is memorable and impressive compared to other Soviet generals! Coupled with his iconic "bald head" image, many Chinese people think that Timoshenko is a Mongolian.
Peasants in the Tsarist period
However, although Timoshenko was born in Ukraine, his surname is also Ukrainian. But he was neither Ukrainian nor Cossack, nor Mongol! He was of real "Russian" descent, and in his early years Timoshenko's ancestors were peasants who had emigrated from the Russian interior to Odessa.
In 1915, at the age of 20, Timoshenko was conscripted into the army with local lads. In fact, when he was young, Temusing was still very handsome, but when he became an adult, he had a physical defect: he did not like long hair. After joining the army, he served as a private in the western front of the Tsarist Russia at that time, and participated in the First World War with the troops.
But in the third year of his army, in early 1917, the "February Revolution" broke out in Russia, when Timoshenko also participated in the military campaign to suppress the revolution. After the outbreak of the famous "October Revolution" on November 7, 1917, Timoshenko was deeply baptized by revolutionary ideas and resolutely chose to join the Soviet Red Army, which had just been established in early 1918.
October revolution
In 1919, Timoshenko joined the Bolshevik Party, and in October of the same year, Timoshenko became the commander of the 6th Division of the 1st Cavalry Army of the Red Army. After the formal establishment of the Soviet Union in December 1922, Timoshenko began to travel from battlefield to battlefield, and after constantly "crawling and fighting" in the war, Timoshenko's position in the Red Army was gradually raised!
From 1925 onwards, Timoshenko successively served as the commander of the Cavalry Corps of the Soviet Army, the deputy commander of the military district, the commander and other important military positions. In the 1930s, Stalin conducted a "great purge" in the Soviet army, which resulted in three of the five marshals of the Soviet Red Army, except for the elderly, being "purged" (killed).
Soviet "Great Purge"
It was also from that time that Timoshenko and Budyonny began to become the most important "cavalry" figures under Stalin, and gradually took the main command of the Red Army.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="65" > the Polish-Soviet-Finnish War, which brought Timoshenko's prestige in the Soviet Union to the peak! However, it was gradually replaced by Zhukov in the Soviet-German war. </h1>
In September 1939, Timoshenko commanded the Ukrainian Front into Poland, and Nazi Germany successfully carved up this Soviet "confidant". This war also brought Timoshenko's prestige in the Soviet Union to its peak for a time! In the following Soviet-Finnish War, Timoshenko commanded the Northwestern Front to break through the Mannerheim Line, and his performance was still very brave.
Soviet-Finnish War
The outcome of the Soviet-Finnish War made the Soviet Union a bit "difficult to ride the tiger", after all, although the Soviet Union won in the end, it won very badly "with the big bullying the small"! However, through these two wars, Timoshenko completely established his "elder-level" authority in the Soviet army. In May 1940, he was promoted to Marshal of the USSR and served as people's commissar of defense of the USSR (equivalent to the current Minister of Defense).
On June 22, 1941, the Nazi German army launched the "Barbarossa" large-scale invasion of the Soviet Union, and the Soviet-German War officially broke out! In the early days of the war, there were several major battles, the Soviet army suffered heavy losses on the front line, and Moscow was once "precarious"! As the core military leader of the Soviet Union, Timoshenko immediately threw himself into the hard battle with the Germans.
Timoshenko
From 1941 to 1943, Timoshenko commanded and organized many major battles, which were also "remarkable", and finally successfully crushed the German attempt to occupy Moscow. However, on May 12, 1942, the Second Battle of Kharkov, commanded by Timoshenko, was met with "Waterloo"!
Although the Soviet winter counteroffensive showed initial signs of success, it was subsequently defeated by a strong German counterattack and suffered heavy losses. Stalin had been "grumpy" about Timoshenko's defeat in Kharkov, which gradually made Timoshenko lose its reuse.
After the Battle of Jamyansk, Timoshenko never had the opportunity to lead the Front in a decisive battle. In some key major battles in the middle and late stages of the war, he could only helplessly "stand aside"! Even his command skills were better than many of the front commanders.
Stalin
After being snubbed by Stalin, Timoshenko's position was gradually replaced by the new general Zhukov. However, all this does not erase The great merits of General Timoshenko. Later in the war , Timoshenko continued to serve as a representative of the Soviet base camp , coordinating the 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian Fronts in Romania in 1944 and Hungary in 1945 , and eventually defeating the German South Ukrainian Army.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="68" > Timoshenko's life "honors are innumerable"! After the war, it was "criticized" by some people, and Zhukov and Rokossovsky both "held grievances" for it. </h1>
After the end of World War II, Timoshenko was appointed commander-in-chief of the Soviet Army in Belarus and the South Ural region. He was awarded the honorary post of "Attorney General of the Ministry of Defense of the USSR" in 1960, chairman of the State Veterans Committee in 1961, and died in Moscow in 1970.
Timoshenko received numerous honors during his lifetime: the Order of Victory in 1945, the Order of Lenin five times, the Order of the October Revolution, the Order of the Red Banner five times, the Order of Suvorov three times, and was twice awarded the highest honor of "Hero of the Soviet Union" in 1940 and 1965.
However, when later generations evaluated Timoshenko, there were many "discordant" voices: Timoshenko's performance in the early days of the Great Patriotic War felt "very unprofessional", and there was a feeling of being eliminated by the times, more like an old Marshal of the Soviet Union who was "arched" by his descendants. Some people also say that Timoshenko did not actually have very good military talent, he was a marshal who rose to power by patting Stalin's "horse ass"!
However, in fact, these "criticisms" are unjust! After all, at that critical moment of "life and death" in the Soviet Union, it was absolutely impossible to just "pat the horse" to ascend to power, after all, Stalin was not a fool! When major wars broke out, they were all in urgent need of employment, and if Timoshenko had not had "real talent and hard work", there was no doubt that he would have been beaten into the "cold palace" by Stalin a long time ago.
In fact, Timoshenko was not old, he was only one year older than Zhukov, but his seniority was an age higher than Zhukov.
In fact, before the outbreak of the Soviet-German War, Timoshenko was highly alert to the war: he was very concerned about all the movements of the German army on the Soviet border, and on June 13, 1941, he also called Stalin to propose that the Soviet border troops enter the state of operation as soon as possible, but Stalin rejected it.
It was not until a few days later, when the Germans on the border showed a very obvious offensive state, that Stalin ordered the Soviet army to prepare for battle with all its might, but it was too late!
World War II German Army (War Reenactment)
During his tenure as People's Commissar for National Defense, Timoshenko completely changed the face of battle between the troops of the Southwestern Front and the Northwestern Front in a very short period of time. In this respect, he was much better than Voroshilov.
It can be seen that Timoshenko was not a general without "military ability". Whether it is in terms of tactics or strategy, he actually has a wealth of command experience.
As for this, the famous Soviet general Zhukov also expressed his own opinion, he said: "Many people's evaluation of General Timoshenko is extremely unfair! Zhukov also pointed out: "There are even some people who accuse Timoshenko of having no backbone in front of Stalin and only blindly flattering, which is completely unrealistic!" ”
Zhukov
Zhukov was also well aware of Timoshenko's character, and he repeatedly stressed that Timoshenko had never been "flattering" to Stalin. Zhukov believed that if Timoshenko was really a "flattering" man, he would not have fallen into the snubbed of Stalin.
Another Marshal Rokossovsky, who also "praised" Timoshenko in his memoirs: In the spring of 1940, I went to Sochi with my family, and later I was invited to the residence of the People's Commissar for Defense Timoshenko, where he received him warmly and sincerely. Although he held an important position as a people's commissar, he was still simple and unpretentious and approachable! This reminds me of the early 1930s, when Timoshenko was the commander of the 3rd Cavalry Corps, and I was the commander of the Samara Cavalry Division under him. There is no doubt that Timoshenko has always been deeply respected and loved by the whole army.
The most beautiful "bald head" marshal Timoshenko (film)
Judging from the accounts of these two famous Marshals of the Soviet Union in World War II, among all the generals of the Soviet Army, Timoshenko was undoubtedly a highly respected and senior military commander, and he was also an approachable "bald". And those unfair evaluations of the veteran Soviet marshal are actually untenable.
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